Punisher War Journal #6-7 (1989)

Punisher and Wolverine meet for the first time. Obviously, Marvel promotes it with a house ad. When the 1990s arrive, one these two characters will appear in at least a dozen issues per month. (And the other issues published in those months will have Spider-Man or Ghost Rider.)

Punisher goes on vacation to Africa to hunt for a creature spotted in the Congo basin that locals believe is a living dinosaur. Now in the real world, this would be silly. But in the Marvel Universe, there are dinosaurs in the Savage Land, as well as characters like Devil Dinosaur and Fin Fang Foom who show up outside of the Savage Land.

Meanwhile, Wolverine goes to Africa to stop cheetah poachers. (Why?)

And because Africa is such a small place, they hook up. First, they fight because Wolverine thinks Punisher is a poacher, but then they team up, shut down the poaching, and save the dinosaurs.

If you’re going to have these two bad-asses meet, why would you do it in Africa? This feels ponderous and pointless.

Creators: Carl Potts, Jim Lee
Grade: D

For the complete history of the MU, year by year, go here.
And see my Ratings of Runs on comics here.